In vitro fertilisation (IVF) has become all the rage in Hollywood, thanks to celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker, Celine Dion and Courtney Cox becoming mums because of the treatment.

IVF is a process in which egg cells are fertilised by sperm outside the body. It's a major treatment for infertility when other methods of assisted reproduction have failed.

In the US, patients are accepted as long as they are under 50.

Desperate Housewives star Marcia Cross, 50, is famed for having skipped her honeymoon to get straight to IVF.

She used donor eggs to increase her chances due to her age and later gave birth to twin girls, Eden and Savannah in 2007.

In 2009, Sarah Jessica Parker, 47, used a surrogate to have twin girls Marion and Tabitha with actor husband Matthew Broderick.

The Sex And The City star had been married for 12 years when her daughters were born.

Twice-lucky is Canadian pop superstar Celine Dion who went through IVF in 2000 to have her son Rene Charles and used it again in 2010 to have her twin sons, Nelson and Eddy.

The 44-year-old revealed to the US media that she had a miscarriage and had six rounds of IVF before her successful pregnancy.

She was initially pregnant with triplets but miscarried one.

Apart from IVF, adoption has also been a hot trend in Tinsel Town.

X-Men star Hugh Jackman's wife Deborra-Lee Furness, 56, suffered two miscarriages before they adopted son Oscar in 2000 and daughter Ava in 2005.

Ex-spouses Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise are perhaps one of the most famous couples to adopt.

Post-divorce, their children Isabella, 20, and Connor, 17, decided to live with Cruise.

In January, actress Katherine Heigl, opened up to Scholastic Parent & Child magazine about adopting her three-year-old Korean daughter Naleigh with husband, singer-songwriter Josh Kelley.

On the adoption process, she told the publication: "You're so amped up, you're so excited, you're so impatient - you know there's a child out there waiting for you, and you just want to get your hands on her."

This article was first published in The New Paper.